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SAN DIEGO — There are only so many ways human beings can describe an event that occupies fewer than three seconds of their lives, a fact that was put to the test repeatedly after Kyle Schwarber hit a 488-foot home run in Game 1 of the National League Championship Series on Tuesday night at Petco Park.

Schwarber’s sixth-inning solo homer — the longest in the 18-year history of Petco Park — in the Philadelphia Phillies‘ 2-0 win over the San Diego Padres provided a brief but stunning moment of energy on a night that was defined by a distinct lack of activity.

The combined totals: four hits, eight baserunners, 20 strikeouts. It had a couple of moments, but this was not a stirring advertisement for the game.

The Phillies won because two of the hits were solo homers — Bryce Harper‘s in the fourth, then Schwarber’s — and because Phillies starter Zack Wheeler ground the Padres lineup into a fine paste over seven innings of one-hit, 8-strikeout mastery.

Wheeler, who has allowed just three earned runs in 19 1/3 postseason innings this October, came out with a show of dominance in the first inning, putting together a string of 98 and 99 mph fastballs with late movement. Once that was implanted in the minds of the Padres hitters, he was free to use his breaking pitches to induce soft — or no — contact. He threw just 83 pitches and was removed after his velocity ticked down in his final inning, but he allowed just two baserunners, a walk to Juan Soto in the first and a single up the middle by Wil Myers in the fifth.

For the Padres, a 2-0 count constituted a rally.

“Seemed like the curveball was the equalizer for him,” Phillies first baseman Rhys Hoskins said. “Obviously it’s a good fastball always with him, but he threw a ton of good breaking balls to their guys, and you saw some awkward swings and weird swings.”

But it was Schwarber who captured the imagination, in a way only tape-measure homers seem capable of doing. He sent a Yu Darvish breaking ball into the second deck in right field, far above and beyond the playing surface and into a section of the ballpark nobody could remember being reached — even in batting practice. When the ball hit the bat, it sounded like a tree split in the batter’s box. The ball dissolved into the distance at 119.7 mph and pulled the air out of a raucous crowd. Harper’s stunned reaction in the dugout — eyes wide as basketballs, jaw slack — spoke for everyone.

The only semi-recent postseason comparison came in the 2002 World Series, when Barry Bonds hit a ball 485 feet off Angels reliever Troy Percival.

“It looked like somebody on the driving range,” Hoskins said. “It got so small so fast. One of those that you don’t really need to look at; you can just hear it.”

Darvish, who allowed three hits and struck out seven in seven innings, said of his former Cubs teammate: “Schwarb, he’s a friend of mine. Every time we meet we greet each other and all that, but next time I meet him, I might have to punch him.”

The homer was important, too, and went a long way toward erasing the Padres’ home-field advantage and giving Philadelphia a boost of confidence with co-ace Aaron Nola pitching in Game 2 o n Wednesday. The way Wheeler, Seranthony Dominguez and Jose Alvarado lasered through the Padres lineup, the extra run, in Hoskins’ words, “Felt like a lot more than one run.”

The person who seemed least impressed by the feat was Schwarber himself, who had two of the Phillies’ three hits to hoist his postseason average to .130. He left the batter’s box reasonably quickly and watched the ball’s flight path with only passing interest. He accurately described the homer as “just a point,” and stressed repeatedly that he would have accepted it had it barely cleared the wall.

In the endless search for the insider-y detail, he was asked to recount the reactions of his teammates when he returned to the dugout.

“A lot of people just looked at me weird,” he said, refusing to give the people what they want.

That left it to everyone else, and once the obligatory expressions of shock were relayed — “jaw-dropping,” according to outfielder Brandon Marsh — there wasn’t much else left to say. The moment was more visceral than anecdotal, at least for now. As Phillies outfielder Matt Vierling said, “When it happened, I kept trying to think about how I would describe it. I’ve just never seen anything like that. It’s hard, though, because it happened so quick; 120 miles an hour doesn’t give you much time to think.”

Harper was asked to describe Schwarber’s homer three or four different times in three or four different ways, and he finally said, “Yeah, it was just really far. That’s it — plain and simple. It was just really far.”

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Chourio hits IL, unlikely to return ‘anytime soon’

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August 2, 2025

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Chourio hits IL, unlikely to return 'anytime soon'

  • Associated Press

Aug 1, 2025, 05:47 PM ET

WASHINGTON — The Milwaukee Brewers placed outfielder Jackson Chourio on the 10-day injured list Friday after evaluations of his strained right hamstring revealed more significant issues than expected.

Chourio was injured Tuesday while running the bases on a triple in the fifth inning. The move to the IL was made retroactive to Wednesday.

Milwaukee manager Pat Murphy said the 21-year-old Chourio likely will require more than a minimum stay on the injured list.

“It won’t be anytime soon,” Murphy said before the Brewers’ series opener against Washington. “He was diagnosed a little more severely than we initially thought. To what extent, I’m not exactly sure. Nor are they. We’re just going to have to rehab it.”

Murphy said Chourio will receive a platelet-rich plasma injection.

Chourio is hitting .276 with 17 homers, 67 RBI and 18 steals for Milwaukee, which entered Friday with the best record in the majors at 64-44. He was replaced on the active roster by outfielder Brandon Lockridge, who the Brewers acquired Thursday from San Diego for pitcher Nestor Cortes, infielder Jorge Quintana and cash.

Lockridge, who hit .216 with five RBI in 47 games with the Padres this season, was inserted into the leadoff slot Friday against the Nationals.

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Yanks release Stroman with Gil return imminent

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August 2, 2025

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Yanks release Stroman with Gil return imminent

  • Jorge CastilloAug 1, 2025, 02:11 PM ET

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      ESPN baseball reporter. Covered the Washington Wizards from 2014 to 2016 and the Washington Nationals from 2016 to 2018 for The Washington Post before covering the Los Angeles Dodgers and MLB for the Los Angeles Times from 2018 to 2024.

The New York Yankees released right-hander Marcus Stroman on Friday, abruptly terminating the veteran’s underwhelming tenure with the club.

The Yankees signed Stroman to a two-year contract worth $37 million guaranteed before the start of last season and will eat the remainder of his $18 million salary.

Stroman, 34, has an $18 million vesting option for 2026 that would have triggered if he pitched 140 innings pitched this season, but Stroman, with 39 innings under his belt on Aug. 1, won’t reach that goalpost and will become a free agent this winter.

“Obviously, that was tough today,” Yankees manager Aaron Boone said. “The perception around Stro for us, if you got to be around him the last couple of years, he’s an awesome competitor.”

Boone said Stroman took the news of his release like “a pro.”

“Had a good interaction with him,” Boone said. “I feel he’ll be a guy I’ll stay in touch with for the rest of our lives. Appreciative of him.”

In the end, Stroman, who is 3-2 with a 6.23 ERA in nine starts this season, was the odd man out of the Yankees’ rotation with Luis Gil scheduled to come off the injured list to make his season debut Sunday against the Miami Marlins.

As it stands, New York’s starting rotation will consist of Max Fried, Carlos Rodon, Gil, Will Warren and rookie Cam Schlittler, who impressed team decision-makers enough in three starts since making his major-league debut on July 9 to convince the Yankees to pay Stroman to not pitch for them.

Stroman’s release also relieves a roster crunch with the Yankees adding four more players acquired before Thursday’s trade deadline to the roster: relievers David Bednar, Camilo Doval and Jake Bird and utilityman José Caballero. The Yankees traded Oswald Peraza to make room for Caballero while right-handers Ian Hamilton and Yerry de los Santos were optioned to Triple-A Scranton/Wilkes-Barre on Thursday. Cutting Stroman opened the final needed roster spot.

Stroman’s brief time in the Bronx was turbulent. An All-Star with the Chicago Cubs in 2023, Stroman recorded a 4.31 ERA in 30 appearances (29 starts) for the Yankees in 2024 and didn’t pitch in a postseason game as New York advanced to the World Series. The Yankees, anticipating a starting pitching surplus, then attempted to trade him over the offseason but couldn’t swing a deal.

As a result, Stroman reported to spring training not projected to make the Opening Day starting rotation. Unhappy with the possibility, he scoffed at the notion of being a reliever upon reporting to camp for workouts two days later than the team expected. Manager Aaron Boone called the situation “awkward.” Injuries to Gerrit Cole and Gil over the following month, however, opened the door for Stroman to begin the season in the rotation.

The 11-year veteran was placed on the injured list with a knee injury in April, missing more than two months before returning June 29 to make six starts. His final outing with the Yankees came Thursday when he surrendered four runs on six hits across five innings against the Tampa Bay Rays.

Stroman finished his Yankees career with a 4.69 ERA — the 11th-highest mark in the majors among pitchers who have logged at least 190 innings over the last two seasons. He can now sign with another club on a prorated minimum — approximately $230,000 for the remainder of the 2025 campaign.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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Yanks’ newcomers implode in 13-12 loss to Marlins

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August 2, 2025

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Yanks' newcomers implode in 13-12 loss to Marlins

  • ESPN News Services

Aug 1, 2025, 11:32 PM ET

MIAMI — Xavier Edwards hit a tying two-run single in the ninth, then raced home with the winning run on Agustin Ramirez‘s chopper in front of the plate as the Marlins rallied to beat the New York Yankees 13-12 on Friday night.

Edwards’ hit came off new Yankees reliever Camilo Doval (4-3), and Edwards beat the attempted tag at home on Ramirez’s fielder’s choice grounder. After Edwards’ single off Doval, Jose Caballero, also a newcomer, committed an error in right field, allowing the Marlins to tie the score.

The Yankees had won 79 straight games when scoring 10-plus runs, which was the longest streak in major league baseball since 2019, according to ESPN Research.

Giancarlo Stanton and Trent Grisham each hit three-run homers that helped the Yankees build a 9-4 lead before the Marlins stunned New York with a six-run seventh.

Kyle Stowers hit a grand slam off newly acquired Yankees reliever Jake Bird, and Javier Sanoja hit a solo shot off David Bednar, another new acquisition. Ramirez singled twice, including a leadoff base hit and a go-ahead single that put the Marlins up 10-9.

Anthony Volpe then tied it at 10 with a leadoff home run in the eighth, and Bednar pitched a scoreless inning before Ryan McMahon‘s RBI single against Anthony Bender (3-5) in the ninth. Volpe, who had four hits, gave the Yankees a two-run cushion with a run-scoring double.

Yankees starter Carlos Rodon was lifted in the fifth after issuing his fifth walk. The left-hander shook his head as he left the mound, with his outing ending after he struck out nine and allowed two walks and four runs.

Rodon held the Marlins without a hit before Eric Wagaman‘s leadoff single in the fifth. Sanoja launched an opposite-field two-run shot off Rodon, and pinch hitter Liam Hicks drove in two with a single off Jonathan Loaisiga that made it 6-4.

Jasson Dominguez also had three hits.

Marlins starter Janson Junk went five innings and allowed six runs and six hits while striking out four.

The announced crowd at loanDepot park was a season-high 32,299.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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